Sixth grade to move to Liberty

Mar. 1—The Ottumwa Community School District Board of Education on Monday added another element to the reshuffling of its classes by approving a proposal to move sixth-graders to Liberty Elementary School starting next year.

The move, which was originally scheduled to take place in 2024-25 along with many other grade changes, was based on overwhelming support from families and staff during a survey process.

The district already moved second graders out of Liberty to Douma Elementary School as part of a major reshuffling, but the board was waiting for bids to come back from a proposed expansion that would added third, fourth and fifth grades to the building.

Officials from both Liberty and Evans Middle School, where sixth-graders currently attend, lauded the move, which will reduce the number of students at Evans. With the change, sixth-graders will only have to move once to Liberty, but officials also wanted to students to "have a continued elementary feel."

Liberty was built with a large number of students in mind, but the district has said it is nowhere near capacity. Starting next year, each of the grades — third, fourth, fifth and sixth — will have their own wing of the building, with slight overlap in the fifth- and sixth-grade wing.

"We're almost at 80% approval with families with students in grades three, four and five about this," assistant superintendent Brad McCloskey told the board. "I think there was a lot of concern about there being enough space at Liberty. We found additional space to make 12 classrooms that are needed for sixth grade."

Sixth-grade students at Liberty will "have the same opportunities they at Evans, and will keep a similar schedule to what they have now," said Evans guidance counselor Megan Wetrich.

"We are able to keep class sizes down, and we'll still be averaging about 20 to 24 students per class," she said. "We also want to keep that 'team concept' in sixth grade, which means each student has like the same four core teachers, and you'll see all of the classes are pretty close together."

Superintendent Mike McGrory said the only significant change as far as switching schools will come from the teachers and their belongings.

"There's going to be a lot less movement for teachers and less movement for students," he said. "We've already moved our kindergarten (to Pickwick Early Childhood Center), which has helped a lot, and moved our second grade to Douma.

"We feel like we can do this in a way where we're making teachers and students a priority and making that transition smooth, even if we have to do it after the school year starts. We don't think that's going to come to fruition, but there's no guarantees. But this is a really good timeline for us."

Parking at Liberty has usually been an issue, but most students are bused to the school. However, the school district and City of Ottumwa have been in discussions about how to move forward. The city is planning a reconstruction of Mary Street, which could impact parts of the school property.

With the move of sixth grade to Liberty, the movement of grade levels is well underway and will conclude in August 2024 with the following:

— Liberty's transformation into a sixth- and seventh-grade building will be complete when seventh grade is moved from Evans.

— Evans will become a building for grades 8-9

— Douma will house first through fifth grade

— Ottumwa High School will host students in grades 10-12

In other business:

— The board approved the bid from Bi-State Contracting and Graphite Construction Group regarding a third- through- fifth-grade addition onto Douma, which will allow the building to host first through fifth grade. The bid from the firm was $16,799,373, almost $5 million less (or 21% lower) than the district estimated the expansion to cost. The bid includes three alternates, among them windows on ceilings to allow natural light to shine through and courtyard improvements.

Ground will be broken at the end of the month and the hope is to have it completed at the end of the 2023-24 school year, weather permitting.

"We've told the contract that they can't begin work inside the building, and we need to try to limit those disruptions," director of technology Landon Allen said.

— Chad Drury can be reached at cdrury@ottumwacourier.com, and on Twitter @ChadDrury